Health
Experimental lupus therapy could be ‘life-changing’ for patients with autoimmune disease, study finds
Australian researchers may have found a breakthrough treatment for lupus.
In a study published in Nature Communications on Feb. 6, scientists at Monash University revealed that they were able to “fix” defective cells that can cause lupus, an autoimmune disease.
They accomplished this by infusing human cells — called regulatory T cells — harvested from healthy people, which then triggered a protective mechanism that helps to prevent autoimmunity, according to a press release from the university.
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People who develop lupus and other autoimmune disorders lack these special T cells.
“We’ve figured out a way to fix a defect that causes lupus,” Peter Eggenhuizen, a research fellow at Monash University and co-first author of the study, told Fox News Digital.
Common symptoms of lupus include joint pain, extreme fatigue, joint pain or a butterfly rash. (iStock)
“We achieved this by engineering patient cells with protective molecules from healthy people. In preclinical models, this halted lupus kidney disease progression.”
The research was performed in both test tubes and in mouse models.
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The researchers were surprised to discover that the infused patient cells,enhanced with protective molecules, suppressed lupus without the need for toxic immunosuppressant drugs.
“New technologies using T regulatory cells as therapy for lupus and other autoimmune conditions are emerging and herald a new generation of personalized medicine,” Eggenhuizen said.
An experimental therapy was able to “completely arrest” the development of lupus kidney disease without using potentially harmful immunosuppressant drugs, said researchers (not pictured). (iStock)
Co-senior author Joshua Ooi, an associate professor who heads Monash University’s Regulatory T Cell Therapies Group at Monash Health, said the new therapy was able to “completely arrest” the development of lupus kidney disease.
“It’s like a reset of the abnormal immune system back to a healthy state — kind of like a major software upgrade,” Ooi said in the press release.
“That it uses the patient’s own cells is a very special part of this.”
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Beyond treating lupus, the researchers hope that the targeted T regulatory cell therapy can be used eventually as a therapy for over 100 other autoimmune conditions, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
Although these initial findings are promising, the researcher emphasized that this work is at the pre-clinical stage.
Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that impacts some 1.5 million people in the U.S. (iStock)
“Two years of additional research and development is required before the first human clinical trials can commence,” he said.
Human clinical trials are expected to start in 2026 to determine the viability of the experimental treatment method.
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Dr. Emily Littlejohn, a rheumatologist and lupus expert from Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, was not involved in the clinical studies but said the proposed treatment looks “promising” as a possible therapy for certain lupus patients.
“This Australian group from Monash University was able to halt the progression of lupus nephritis in a lupus mouse model,” she told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“Lupus nephritis is one of the most devastating manifestations of systemic lupus, and this therapy could prove to be life-changing for many of our patients.”
Lupus is more common among women between 15 and 44 years of age and people who are African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, or Pacific Islander, according to the Lupus Foundation. (iStock)
Because this study was done in vitro and in lupus nephritis mouse models, Littlejohn noted that it’s very difficult to make presumptions about how this therapy will perform in humans with lupus.
“It will be interesting to see how this treatment translates in clinical trials using human patients,” she added.
Current treatments for lupus include disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, or DMARDs, in addition to biologic agents, which are immunosuppressive therapies in either tablet, injection or infusion form, Littlejohn noted.
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“While these drugs have proven to be useful to treat and prevent progression of lupus, we still do not have ample success rates in treating patients with lupus nephritis,” she said. “We are looking forward to the up-and-coming drug trials that are ongoing in this space for treatment of different forms of systemic lupus.”
What to know about lupus
Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue in the body, which causes inflammation and pain in the body, according to the Lupus Foundation of America’s website.
The disease most often affects the joints, skin and major organs, such as the kidneys and heart.
Common symptoms include joint pain, extreme fatigue, joint pain or a butterfly rash.
The disease most often affects the joints, skin and major organs, such as the kidneys and heart. (iStock)
There are four different types of lupus, as detailed on the foundation’s website.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the most common form, affects multiple organs or organ systems.
Cutaneous lupus only affects the skin, while drug-induced lupus is triggered by specific prescription drugs.
Neonatal lupus is a rare condition that is passed from a pregnant woman to her infant.
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Lupus can run in families, and it’s also more common among women between 15 and 44 years of age and people who are African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, or Pacific Islander, according to the same foundation.
The disease affects approximately 1.5 million people in the U.S.
Although these initial findings are promising, the researcher emphasized that this work is at the pre-clinical stage. (iStock)
“Systemic lupus is a life-threatening and difficult-to-treat disease,” said Littlejohn.
“Given the variety of manifestations of this disease and the wide range of clinical symptoms, having more treatment options will only help improve disease outcomes and quality of life in these patients.”
With dozens of new drugs in various stages of clinical trial, Littlejohn said this is an “exciting time” for drug development in systemic lupus.
“The ongoing scientific work and treatment development breakthroughs, such as the one put forth in this article, are wonderful to see.”
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Eating too much salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but new research suggests it could trick the immune system into prematurely aging the blood vessels.
A preclinical study recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has identified a biological chain reaction that links a salty diet to cardiovascular decay.
Scientists at the University of South Alabama observed that mice on a high-salt diet experienced rapid deterioration in their blood vessel function.
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After just four weeks of high sodium intake, the small arteries responsible for regulating blood flow lost their ability to relax, according to a press release.
The team found that the cells lining these vessels had entered a state of cellular senescence, a form of premature cellular aging in which cells stop dividing and release a mix of inflammatory signals that can damage surrounding tissue.
Excess salt has long been linked to high blood pressure, but a new study goes deeper into its effects on the cardiovascular system. (iStock)
The researchers tried to replicate this damage by exposing blood vessel cells directly to salt in a laboratory dish, but the cells showed no harmful effects.
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This suggests that salt isn’t directly causing damage to the vascular lining but that the real culprit may be the body’s own defense mechanism, the researchers noted.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16 (IL-16), which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system to release a molecule called interleukin-16, which acts as a messenger that instructs blood vessel cells to grow old before their time, according to the study. (iStock)
Once these cells age, they fail to produce nitric oxide, the essential gas that tells arteries to dilate and stay flexible.
To test whether this process could be reversed, the team turned to a class of experimental drugs known as senolytics.
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Using a cancer medication called navitoclax, which selectively clears out aged and dysfunctional cells, the researchers were able to restore nearly normal blood vessel function in the salt-fed mice, the release stated.
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By removing the decaying cells created by the high-salt diet, the drug allowed the remaining healthy tissue to maintain its elasticity and respond correctly to blood flow demands.
Excess salt may trigger the immune system into stopping the cells from dividing, the study suggests. (iStock)
The study did have some limitations. The transition from mouse models to human treatment remains a significant hurdle, the team cautioned.
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Senolytic drugs like navitoclax are still being studied for safety, and the team emphasized that previous trials have shown mixed results regarding their impact on artery plaque.
Additionally, the researchers have not yet confirmed whether the same IL-16 pathway is the primary driver of vascular aging in humans.
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Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests.
The observational study, led by Jorge Nieva, M.D., of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at Keck Medicine, was presented this month at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in San Diego. It has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Researchers looked at dietary, smoking and demographic data for 187 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer at age 50 or younger.
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They found that among non-smokers, there was a link between healthier-than-average diets – rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains – and the chance of lung cancer development.
Young lung cancer patients ate more servings of dark green vegetables, legumes and whole grains compared to the average U.S. adult, the researchers found.
Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables was found to have a surprising link to lung cancer among younger non-smokers, early research suggests. (iStock)
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association.
“Commercially produced (non-organic) fruits, vegetables and whole grains are more likely to be associated with a higher residue of pesticides than dairy, meat and many processed foods,” according to Nieva. He also noted that agricultural workers exposed to pesticides tend to have higher rates of lung cancer.
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“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” Nieva told Fox News Digital.
The disease is becoming more common in non-smokers 50 and younger, especially women – despite the fact that smoking rates have been falling for decades, the researcher noted.
The researchers hypothesized that pesticides applied to conventionally grown produce could be a possible factor in the disease association. (iStock)
“These patients tend to have eaten much healthier diets before their diagnosis than the average American,” he went on. “We need to support research into understanding why Americans – and women in particular – who no longer smoke very much are still having lung cancer,” he said.
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The study did have some limitations, Nieva acknowledged, primarily that it relied on survey data and was limited by the participants’ memories of their food intake.
“Also, the survey participants were self-selected, and this could have biased the findings,” he told Fox News Digital.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking.”
The researchers did not test specific foods for pesticides, relying instead on average pesticide levels for certain types of food. Looking ahead, they plan to test patients’ blood and urine samples to directly measure pesticide levels, Nieva said.
Although the study shows only an association and does not prove that pesticides caused lung cancer, Nieva recommends that people wash their produce before eating and choose organic foods whenever possible.
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“This work represents a critical step toward identifying modifiable environmental factors that may contribute to lung cancer in young adults,” said Nieva. “Our hope is that these insights can guide both public health recommendations and future investigation into lung cancer prevention.”
“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but is by no means certain,” a doctor said. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said the study is “interesting,” but that it “raises far more questions than it answers.”
“It is a small study (around 150) and observational, so no proof,” the doctor, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital.
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“It is possible that the increased lung cancer risk could be due to pesticide exposure in whole farmed foods, but it is by no means certain,” Siegel went on. “How much exposure is needed? How much of it gets into food and in which areas? This requires much further study.”
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Kayla Nichols, communications director for Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, a distributed global network, said the organization agrees with the study’s conclusion that more research should be done on the rise in lung cancer, particularly in individuals eating diets higher in produce and fiber.
“There is a large subset of lung cancer patients whose disease is not caused by smoking,” the researcher told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“There is a bounty of existing research that already links pesticide exposure to increased risk of multiple types of cancers,” Nichols, who was also not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. She called for more research on chronic, low-level exposures to pesticides, as well as more effective policies to protect the public from pesticide residues on food.
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The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, as well as industry partners including AstraZeneca and Genentech, among others.
Fox News Digital reached out to several pesticide companies and trade groups for comment.
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